There are times when I am tempted to think my efforts to help people does not pay off. At those moments I am tempted with being bitter about the time and energy I’ve invested in people. Satan even entices me to be angry at God in those times. Have you ever felt that way? Hebrews 12:15 tells us that when we let a root of bitterness inside us, it will contaminate us and all the people around us. It has very destructive affects on our spiritual eye sight so that “we cannot see straight”. Knowing this, I seek to avoid bitter thoughts like “the plague”. God assured all of us that our work in the Lord is never wasted. It will become fruitful in God’s timing.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:58)
David and Svea Flood, a very young Swedish missionary couple, went with their two-year-old son to a hostile African community in 1921. Their only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell this family chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea, a tiny woman, decided that if this was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead the boy to Jesus. This young man became a Christian. Svea died seventeen days after the birth of a little girl named Aina, due to bouts of malaria. David Flood became bitter and after burying his twenty-seven-year-old wife. He said, “I’m going back to Sweden. I’ve lost my wife, and I obviously can’t take care of this baby. God has ruined my life.” After giving his newborn daughter to a missionary family, he went back to Sweden with his son.
In less than a year the missionary couple who took in Aina both died within days of each other. The baby was then taken in by some American missionaries and brought to the United States by age three. They loved the little girl and changed her name to Aggie, who grew up and attended a Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met and married a young man named Dewey Hurst who became president of a Christian college in Seattle. On their 25th wedding anniversary the college presented them with a gift to take a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie looked up her real father who was now an old man. David had remarried, had four more children, destroyed his life with alcohol, and suffered a stroke. He was still bitter and did not want anyone to mention God, because as he put it “God took everything from me”. She walked into his filthy apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, and approached the seventy-three-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed. “Papa” she said tentatively. He turned and began to cry. “Aina,” he said. “I never meant to give you away.” “It’s all right, Papa,” she replied, taking him gently in her arms. “God took care of me.” The man instantly stiffened and his tears stopped. “God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of Him.” He turned his face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and continued “Papa, I’ve got a little story to tell you, and it’s a true one. You didn’t go to Africa in vain. Mama didn’t die in vain. The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing and growing. Today there are six hundred African people serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life.… Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you.” The old man turned back to look into his daughter’s eyes. His body relaxed and he began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many years. Over the next few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm moments together and within a few weeks, David Flood died and went into eternity. If we like David have become weary in well doing, God will restore us when we repent.
Let’s not look at the immediate circumstance to determine whether our work for the Lord was of value. Let’s look at God’s Promise and remember that He will never be proven wrong. Our work in the Lord will always bring lasting benefits in God’s timing! Working for God is never time wasted!
Selah,
Al Yoder
1/19/2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Obstacle or Opportunity
I remember in my youth that some spiritual leaders would use the Bible verses that talked about the end time to scare people in seeing their need to be saved. There are many leaders today who make a lot of money by predicting dates as to Christ's coming. There are charismatic leaders who claim to have inside information and great ability to know things that Jesus said only His Father in heaven knows anything about. Even well meaning Christians for thousands of years have claimed that Christ would come back within their life-time, but over and over they have been proven wrong. This kind of emphasis discouraged me from furthering my education as a young man. My reasoning was, "these older Christians surely know the Bible better than I do, so why study to get a degree when Christ is coming back before I graduate anyway".
Jesus clearly teaches that we should not follow people who keep claiming that the end is near. Without a question the end is always near for us as individuals. I am already sixty two years old. In some ways it only seems like yesterday when I was sixteen. We must be careful to not project our worries and fears onto other people when we see huge earthquakes like the one in Haiti this week. Jesus taught us as His disciples not to worry about persecution & earthquakes, but rather to see these as opportunities to tell others about our faith. Later in this passage Jesus assures us that He will give us the words we are to say during trying circumstances. Fear sees it as an obstacle. Faith sees it as an opportunity. The choice is up to us.
Luke 21:8
Jesus taught his disciples, "Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, 'I'm the One,' or, 'The end is near.' Don't fall for any of that. Luk 21:9
When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end." Luk 21:10
He went on, "Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Luk 21:11
Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You'll think at times that the very sky is falling.
Luk 21:12
Before all this happens; you will be arrested and punished. You will be tried in your meeting places and put in jail. Because of me you will be placed on trial before kings and governors. Luk 21:13
But this will be your chance to tell about your faith. Luk 21:14
Make up your mind right now not to worry about it.
These verses are from the more contemporary English versions of the Bible. You may want to read them in context from your Bibles. I believe these accurately depict what Jesus was teaching us. May we all be followers of Christ and not be overly enamored with earthly leaders. Experience teaches us that those who allow themselves to be put up on high pedestals....usually fall off. Instead of seeing this Haitian earthquake as an obstacle, let?s see it as an opportunity to share our faith. Fear says these are obstacles. Faith says they are opportunities.
Selah....Al Yoder
Jesus clearly teaches that we should not follow people who keep claiming that the end is near. Without a question the end is always near for us as individuals. I am already sixty two years old. In some ways it only seems like yesterday when I was sixteen. We must be careful to not project our worries and fears onto other people when we see huge earthquakes like the one in Haiti this week. Jesus taught us as His disciples not to worry about persecution & earthquakes, but rather to see these as opportunities to tell others about our faith. Later in this passage Jesus assures us that He will give us the words we are to say during trying circumstances. Fear sees it as an obstacle. Faith sees it as an opportunity. The choice is up to us.
Luke 21:8
Jesus taught his disciples, "Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, 'I'm the One,' or, 'The end is near.' Don't fall for any of that. Luk 21:9
When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end." Luk 21:10
He went on, "Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Luk 21:11
Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You'll think at times that the very sky is falling.
Luk 21:12
Before all this happens; you will be arrested and punished. You will be tried in your meeting places and put in jail. Because of me you will be placed on trial before kings and governors. Luk 21:13
But this will be your chance to tell about your faith. Luk 21:14
Make up your mind right now not to worry about it.
These verses are from the more contemporary English versions of the Bible. You may want to read them in context from your Bibles. I believe these accurately depict what Jesus was teaching us. May we all be followers of Christ and not be overly enamored with earthly leaders. Experience teaches us that those who allow themselves to be put up on high pedestals....usually fall off. Instead of seeing this Haitian earthquake as an obstacle, let?s see it as an opportunity to share our faith. Fear says these are obstacles. Faith says they are opportunities.
Selah....Al Yoder
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
FOLLOWING GOD’S PRESENCE
Have you ever watched children who have so many gifts given to them that they are almost totally oblivious to the Giver of those presents? Too often we as Christians want God’s “presents” without His “presence”. I always know when we are like this because when the presents stop coming, we get mad at God. Faith in faith will get us nowhere, and often faith in people will not get us much further. That doesn’t mean that we should not trust people, but people are not our source and never can be. Only God is our source (that’s part of what it means for Him to be God) and only faith in God is an effective faith. Faith, however, is always something that is current. It is not good at traveling long distances. If we are far from God’s presence, faith simply doesn’t work. We can strive and struggle and twist ourselves into all kinds of shapes trying to believe and to take hold of God’s promises. However if we have moved away from His presence, our faith has nothing to take hold of. We find ourselves wondering what went wrong.
“The cloud (God’s Presence) might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved.”
(Numbers 9:22) (CEV)Our life with God is never static. It is always about moving, about growth, not about getting comfortable in one place (spiritually and sometimes physically) and settling down. It is a “walk”, not a “sit”. (Yes, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, but that is a different dimension.) Like the ancient Israelites, we need to learn to watch the cloud. We need to move when God moves, and to stand still when He stands still. We need to change our focus, so that the most important thing is not where we are, but where He is. When we focus on where we are, we start looking at our surroundings. Either they are very nice and we want to stay put – which becomes a problem when God wants to move – or they are anything but nice and we want to get out of there – which becomes a problem when God wants to stay put! When we focus on where He is, then that is where we want to be, whatever the circumstances surrounding us may be. Faith is sometimes a struggle and the blessing of God may seem to have moved.
Have you perhaps run ahead, eager to get on with the next thing, when God wants to linger where you have been, maybe to deal with some issues in your life, maybe to build deeper relationships, maybe simply to wait for His timing? Stop, and go back to God’s presence. His timing will surely come, and when it does it will be perfect. More importantly, when we go into His presence we will also be in His timing.
Others maybe have lingered behind when God was moving on. You have wanted to cling to what has been, to live in the old anointing. You have heard people say, “Life just isn’t what it used to be.” A friend of mine used to say, “God moves. Then man turns it into a movement, then he turns it into a monument, and finally man turns it into a mausoleum.” Yesterday’s anointing was wonderful – for yesterday. It was not made for tomorrow. If God has moved, then no matter how good yesterday was, we need to get up and leave it behind, and follow that cloud!
The New Year is just ahead of us with many unknowns in it. The cloud is symbolic of God. If we purpose ahead of time to move whenever God is moving and wait whenever God isn’t moving, we will see God work in spectacular ways throughout the coming year. He is always at work in and around us. May we keep our eyes on Him and not the unknown. And remember: GOD’S PRESENCE is more valuable than GOD’S PRESENTS!
Selah…
Al Yoder
12/29/2010
“The cloud (God’s Presence) might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved.”
(Numbers 9:22) (CEV)Our life with God is never static. It is always about moving, about growth, not about getting comfortable in one place (spiritually and sometimes physically) and settling down. It is a “walk”, not a “sit”. (Yes, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, but that is a different dimension.) Like the ancient Israelites, we need to learn to watch the cloud. We need to move when God moves, and to stand still when He stands still. We need to change our focus, so that the most important thing is not where we are, but where He is. When we focus on where we are, we start looking at our surroundings. Either they are very nice and we want to stay put – which becomes a problem when God wants to move – or they are anything but nice and we want to get out of there – which becomes a problem when God wants to stay put! When we focus on where He is, then that is where we want to be, whatever the circumstances surrounding us may be. Faith is sometimes a struggle and the blessing of God may seem to have moved.
Have you perhaps run ahead, eager to get on with the next thing, when God wants to linger where you have been, maybe to deal with some issues in your life, maybe to build deeper relationships, maybe simply to wait for His timing? Stop, and go back to God’s presence. His timing will surely come, and when it does it will be perfect. More importantly, when we go into His presence we will also be in His timing.
Others maybe have lingered behind when God was moving on. You have wanted to cling to what has been, to live in the old anointing. You have heard people say, “Life just isn’t what it used to be.” A friend of mine used to say, “God moves. Then man turns it into a movement, then he turns it into a monument, and finally man turns it into a mausoleum.” Yesterday’s anointing was wonderful – for yesterday. It was not made for tomorrow. If God has moved, then no matter how good yesterday was, we need to get up and leave it behind, and follow that cloud!
The New Year is just ahead of us with many unknowns in it. The cloud is symbolic of God. If we purpose ahead of time to move whenever God is moving and wait whenever God isn’t moving, we will see God work in spectacular ways throughout the coming year. He is always at work in and around us. May we keep our eyes on Him and not the unknown. And remember: GOD’S PRESENCE is more valuable than GOD’S PRESENTS!
Selah…
Al Yoder
12/29/2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Deuteronomy Mix
In my younger years our families would refer to a soup that was made as a Deuteronomy soup. My wife Rose also refers to a meal she makes by mixing together foods left from a former supper into a soup. Recently someone asked, “Why do you call it a Deuteronomy meal?” Her response was, “I don’t know why we called it that name.” I looked up the word as to its meaning and find that it comes from two Greek words…“deutero” which means second, and “nomos” which means law. So maybe the soup was called this because it was the second time this food was being prepared for a meal! Here is another possibility. In the book of Deuteronomy, God had commanded the Israelites not to mix certain things. They were instructed not to wear clothes that had a mix of wool and linen. They were also told not to plow with a mix of donkey and ox in the same yoke. Maybe the idea of mixing the items was the origin of calling the dish a Deuteronomy meal.
The New Testament does not teach us that mixing food is wrong, but it does teach us that mixing Christian and non Christian lifestyles are very harmful. If we tried to mix a quart of spoiled milk with a quart of good mile, we would have a half gallon of spoiled milk. It is equivalent to trying to mix truth with some lies…it still ends up being a lie. It pays to have healthy boundaries for ourselves when it comes to relationships.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
(II Corinthians 6:14)
The spiritual lesson in the book of Deuteronomy seems to be that Moses is going over the law with the people a second time as a way of remembering. He reminded them that as they keep God’s laws, they would prosper. He also warned them that if they neglected those laws, they would be taken over by foreign nations as a discipline for their disobedience. Moses kept repeating, “Don’t forget you used to be slaves in Egypt”. Wise are those of us who have been slaves to alcohol, to not find our fellowship with those who drink alcohol. Moses would say to us, “don’t forget you used to be slaves to alcohol.”
This speaks to me in that since I am a Christian and brought out of spiritual Egypt, I should not allow myself to become “mixed up” with the Canaanite lifestyles that surround me. God's people must be marked by a different kind of lifestyle than others. We must make some clear boundaries for ourselves, or we will soon be assimilated into the culture that surrounds us…acting and talking just like them. God simply says that being Christian means that the Corinthians can no longer take part in worship or ethics that contradict clear teaching in the Bible. In other words, what we do ethically matters a great deal if we are claiming to be Christians. The Israelites found out that Moses had told them the truth, when they allowed themselves to act like the world around them. Foreign nations did drive them out of Canaan, just like God had warned them He would. God always keeps his promises. When they learned the lessons, God restored them into their land again.
Practical Lesson: Food mixed together for a second time can be a pretty tasty meal. In contrast to food, when I allow myself to get mixed up with a sinful lifestyle…my whole life can go sour. No wonder God instructs me to keep healthy boundaries between myself and unbelievers. A friend of ours is sitting in jail on Christmas Day because this principle was violated. It always pays to be yoked together with believers. Jesus said,
“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest.”
(Matthew 11:28, 29)
Sounds like a good Deuteronomy Mix to me!!!
Selah,
Al Yoder
12/25/2010
The New Testament does not teach us that mixing food is wrong, but it does teach us that mixing Christian and non Christian lifestyles are very harmful. If we tried to mix a quart of spoiled milk with a quart of good mile, we would have a half gallon of spoiled milk. It is equivalent to trying to mix truth with some lies…it still ends up being a lie. It pays to have healthy boundaries for ourselves when it comes to relationships.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
(II Corinthians 6:14)
The spiritual lesson in the book of Deuteronomy seems to be that Moses is going over the law with the people a second time as a way of remembering. He reminded them that as they keep God’s laws, they would prosper. He also warned them that if they neglected those laws, they would be taken over by foreign nations as a discipline for their disobedience. Moses kept repeating, “Don’t forget you used to be slaves in Egypt”. Wise are those of us who have been slaves to alcohol, to not find our fellowship with those who drink alcohol. Moses would say to us, “don’t forget you used to be slaves to alcohol.”
This speaks to me in that since I am a Christian and brought out of spiritual Egypt, I should not allow myself to become “mixed up” with the Canaanite lifestyles that surround me. God's people must be marked by a different kind of lifestyle than others. We must make some clear boundaries for ourselves, or we will soon be assimilated into the culture that surrounds us…acting and talking just like them. God simply says that being Christian means that the Corinthians can no longer take part in worship or ethics that contradict clear teaching in the Bible. In other words, what we do ethically matters a great deal if we are claiming to be Christians. The Israelites found out that Moses had told them the truth, when they allowed themselves to act like the world around them. Foreign nations did drive them out of Canaan, just like God had warned them He would. God always keeps his promises. When they learned the lessons, God restored them into their land again.
Practical Lesson: Food mixed together for a second time can be a pretty tasty meal. In contrast to food, when I allow myself to get mixed up with a sinful lifestyle…my whole life can go sour. No wonder God instructs me to keep healthy boundaries between myself and unbelievers. A friend of ours is sitting in jail on Christmas Day because this principle was violated. It always pays to be yoked together with believers. Jesus said,
“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest.”
(Matthew 11:28, 29)
Sounds like a good Deuteronomy Mix to me!!!
Selah,
Al Yoder
12/25/2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Murmuring
Sigh!!!! good to think about my effect on those around me. But some
people genuinely love the snow. I have always just tried to grit my
teeth and make it through the winter. I think if we started thinking
about winter as a way to "rest up, " and begin to cherish reading
books by the fire at night, instead of wishing I was in Florida in the
sun. There is something about lack of sun and our bodies making more
Vitamin D that affects our brain and our ability to be as positive.
And for those of us who suffer from Winter depression, we may do well
to leave the North as we get older and find a ministry in the Southern
States where there is more Sun......don't you think? But you made
some very good points. Negativity breads Negativity.
LOL Sis Carolyn
On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Al Yoder wrote:
> MURMURING AGAINST THE LORD
>
>
>
> I looked outside this morning and my first thought was: “Oh no, I don’t want
> to deal with snow yet.” Then I remembered reading about the children of
> Israel in Exodus and how God felt about his people murmuring and changed my
> tune. It seems like we have this uncanny tendency to slide into this habit
> of murmuring when things are not the way we like it. I was impressed with
> how Moses spoke about the peoples unhappiness with him. He said the people
> were saying these things against the LORD.
>
>
>
> And Moses said, for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur
> against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but
> against the LORD. (Exodus 16:8 b)
>
>
>
> There is something about murmuring that is like the flu. It’s like a virus.
> It is easily caught by others, and soon a whole host of people are having
> the symptoms. Sometimes we are in the middle of a group of people and one
> person starts in on all the inconsistencies of our government and world
> conditions. Others join in and the first thing we know the whole room is
> filled with negative thoughts and statements about everything from
> governments, schools, churches, parenting, high prices, pastors, plant
> managers, businesses, etc.
>
>
>
> On the contrary, when one person speaks up and begins to point out the
> benefits of living in the country and the privilege we have to own our own
> businesses, the whole tenor of the conversation can change our whole outlook
> toward life.
>
>
>
> According to this passage in Exodus, God hears our murmurings and they are
> really ultimately aimed at Him. God did hear the peoples grumblings and
> sent them the things they were wanting, but they got very ill and many died
> as a result. Since I don’t want the negative consequences they got, I
> decided to change my way of talking about the snow and think of all the
> benefits we get from it, our government, our churches, schools, businesses,
> managers, and the things we buy.
>
>
>
> If we had nothing but our salvation, we would have more than we deserved.
> After all the children of Israel had been delivered from 430 years of
> slavery to the Egyptians. That should have been enough in itself to have
> made them grateful for what they had. And our salvation from sin and hell
> should make us grateful for what I have and quit this murmuring spirit.
>
>
>
> Selah…
>
> Al Yoder
>
people genuinely love the snow. I have always just tried to grit my
teeth and make it through the winter. I think if we started thinking
about winter as a way to "rest up, " and begin to cherish reading
books by the fire at night, instead of wishing I was in Florida in the
sun. There is something about lack of sun and our bodies making more
Vitamin D that affects our brain and our ability to be as positive.
And for those of us who suffer from Winter depression, we may do well
to leave the North as we get older and find a ministry in the Southern
States where there is more Sun......don't you think? But you made
some very good points. Negativity breads Negativity.
LOL Sis Carolyn
On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Al Yoder
> MURMURING AGAINST THE LORD
>
>
>
> I looked outside this morning and my first thought was: “Oh no, I don’t want
> to deal with snow yet.” Then I remembered reading about the children of
> Israel in Exodus and how God felt about his people murmuring and changed my
> tune. It seems like we have this uncanny tendency to slide into this habit
> of murmuring when things are not the way we like it. I was impressed with
> how Moses spoke about the peoples unhappiness with him. He said the people
> were saying these things against the LORD.
>
>
>
> And Moses said, for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur
> against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but
> against the LORD. (Exodus 16:8 b)
>
>
>
> There is something about murmuring that is like the flu. It’s like a virus.
> It is easily caught by others, and soon a whole host of people are having
> the symptoms. Sometimes we are in the middle of a group of people and one
> person starts in on all the inconsistencies of our government and world
> conditions. Others join in and the first thing we know the whole room is
> filled with negative thoughts and statements about everything from
> governments, schools, churches, parenting, high prices, pastors, plant
> managers, businesses, etc.
>
>
>
> On the contrary, when one person speaks up and begins to point out the
> benefits of living in the country and the privilege we have to own our own
> businesses, the whole tenor of the conversation can change our whole outlook
> toward life.
>
>
>
> According to this passage in Exodus, God hears our murmurings and they are
> really ultimately aimed at Him. God did hear the peoples grumblings and
> sent them the things they were wanting, but they got very ill and many died
> as a result. Since I don’t want the negative consequences they got, I
> decided to change my way of talking about the snow and think of all the
> benefits we get from it, our government, our churches, schools, businesses,
> managers, and the things we buy.
>
>
>
> If we had nothing but our salvation, we would have more than we deserved.
> After all the children of Israel had been delivered from 430 years of
> slavery to the Egyptians. That should have been enough in itself to have
> made them grateful for what they had. And our salvation from sin and hell
> should make us grateful for what I have and quit this murmuring spirit.
>
>
>
> Selah…
>
> Al Yoder
>
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